Door for display-cabinets.



A. L. MILLER.

DOOR FOR DISPLAY CABINETS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19. I913.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET mmsa'yg A. E. MILLER.

' DOOR FOR DISPLAY CABINETS.

. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19. I913. 1,175,

' Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ANDREW E. MILLER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR TO SOLOMON HIMMEL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

DOOR FOR DISPLAY-CABINETS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW E. MILLER, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Doors for Display-Cabinets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in doors for display cabinets and the like.

It is now common practice for merchants engaged in the sale of ready made garments to employ display racks in which a reciprocable rack member, upon which the garments are hung, is mounted within a case or cabinet. Various types of cabinets are employed, usually with the sides and back constructed of glass panels, and the front closed by suitable glass doors. It is common to employ doors which are swung to open position and then slid inside the case adjacent the sides of the latter. Or else the doors are hinged to the case to swing outwardly therefrom. In either form considerable floor space is required to permit thcswinging of the doors, and one of the Ob]8CiZS of the present invention is to provide improved means for reducing the space required in front of the case for the manipulation of the doors.

A. further object is to provide improved means for mounting and guiding the door whereby the latter will swing to the open or closed position in one continuous motion.

A further object is to reduce the friction upon the parts so that the doors may be opened or closed with the expenditure of minimum power. 7

A further object is to dispense with supporting carriages, brackets and the like, for maintaining .or supporting the inner end of the door.

A further object is to provide means for guiding the door so constructed that the door will be in alinement with the front of the case when in closed position, and in alinement with the side of the case when in open position.

The invention will be hereinafter fully set forth and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view illustrating a portion of a display rack cabinet with my Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

Serial No. 801,840.

invention applied thereto, showing the door closed. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the door open. Fig. 3 is a similar view with the door removed illustrating the bottom guides. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the upper guides.

Referring to the drawings, 10 designates the bottom of a display rack cabinet of any suitable or preferred construction provided with a side panel 11. Secured to the bottom of the case in any suitable manner is a grooved track 12 inclined with respect to the side of the case and leading from the front to the rear of the latter, said track being provided with an off-set portion 13 at its rear end. A second track 14 is provided with a straight portion abutting the main portion of track 12 and lying parallel therewith, the forward end of said track 1% being curved at 15 and terminating in a short extension 16 parallel with the front of the case. It will be understood that duplicates of. these tracks are secured to the top of the case so as to lie opposite the tracks secured to the bottom of the case.

The door 20 is provided at its rear end with upper and lower casters 21. one caster being secured in the top edge of the door an .i the other caster secured in the bottom of the door. Additional casters 22 are secured in the top and bottom, respectively, of the door. In the drawings the casters 29. are spaced about one-quarter of the length of the door from the casters 21, although I do not desire to limit myself in this particular. The casters may be of any suitable or preferred construction. Inthe drawings, however, I have conventionally illustrated them as mounted within suitable casings 23, inserted in recesses in the door.

In the drawings I have shown the door as provided with a laterally extended arm 35 to which is connected a cord or chain 36, the latter being also connected with a suitable spring roller conventionally illustrated at 37. In practice the door is supported upon the lower rollers or casters 21, 22, and the forward end is prevented from dropping by reason of the upper roller 21 engaging the upper surface of its track 12. The arrangement of the rollers is such that the weight of the door is completely sustained and nicely balanced at all points so as to movewithout binding. It will be noted that the rollers 21 are always in engagement with the tracks 12 and the rollers 22 always in engagement with the tracks 14. Assuming the door to be closed, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the operator engages the free end thereof and moves said end outward. The effect is to cause roller 21 to travel rearwardly in the track 12, and the roller 22 to travel from extension 16 around the curve 15 into track 14 as illustrated in dotted lines Fig. 2. The rollers are provided with ball-bearing mountings to permit them to swivel and turn so as to readily accommodate themselves to the diflerent movements of the door. As the roller 21 reaches the offset portion 13 of the track 12 the rear end of the door is moved away from the side of the case so that when the rearward movement of the door has ceased, the door is parallel with the side 11. the extension 13 overlapping track 14 sufficiently to bring the rollers 21 and 22 in a line' parallel with the side of the case. It is obvious that when the door is to be closed the foregoing movements are reversed. It will be noted that the opening and closing of the door, as the case may be, is accomplished by a single continuous movement. If desired the spring 37 may be employed to automatically complete the opening movement of the door after such movement has been started, or to hold the door in closed position. It will be noted that the axes of the rollers or casters 21, 22 are arranged transversely of the longitudinal median line of the door and that they are swiveled between the edges of the door so as to permit them to accommodate themselves to any change in angle of the door with respect to the tracks. Having thus explained the nature of my invention and described an operative manner of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the forms of its use, what I claim is 1. As an improvement in doors for display cabinets, the combination with parallel tracks, one of which is provided at its outer end with a curved portion terminating in an extension arranged at right angles to the body of the track, the other track being provided at its inner end with an offset portion I extending transversely across the inner end of the first mentioned track. of a door provided with a supporting roller at its rear end engaging the last mentioned track, and a second roller spaced therefrom and engaging the other track, said rollers being attached to the edge of the door between the side faces thereof.

2. As an improvement in doors for display cabinets, the combination with a cabinet, and tracks attached thereto and parallel with eachother and with the end wall of the cabinet, one of said tracks being provided at its outer end with a curved portlon terminating in an extension running parallel with the front of the case, of a door provided my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. ANDREWV E. MILLER.

Witnesses:

JAcoB H. AULL, JAcoB R. EADER. 

